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Yannick Bisson as William Murdoch in Murdoch Mysteries which will move to CBC for its sixth season. (Citytv/Canadian Press)

CBC has snatched up Murdoch Mysteries, the Victorian-era detective series whose demise was announced earlier this fall by Citytv.

City had announced in September that it would end the series after its fifth season, now in production.

On Tuesday, lead producer Shaftesbury and CBC announced a sixth season of the one-hour drama, which stars Yannick Bisson as Insp. William Murdoch.

Drama channel Alibi in the UK and ITV Studios Global Entertainment will remain production partners on the internationally successful series, which has been sold in more than 100 countries.

"With so many stories left to tell, we look forward to finally bringing Murdoch Mysteries to a national audience and growing our passionate fan base in partnership with the team at CBC," Christina Jennings, Shaftesbury chairman and CEO, said in a statement.

Among its fans is Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who made a cameo as a dim-witted policeman during the fourth season of Murdoch Mysteries.

The series is based on Canadian author Maureen Jennings's popular Detective Murdoch novels.

The somewhat stiff Insp. Murdoch is fascinated with the new forensic techniques emerging in the 1890s and uses them to solve murders and other crimes.

In the fifth season, Insp. Murdoch is to travel to Yukon to escape trouble in Toronto and will be solving mysteries during the Klondike gold rush.

The sixth season, to be aired on CBC, is expected to begin production in spring 2012.